Dead Secret is a first person, point and click murder-mystery adventure. The game is available in VR, but I played using my desktop.

You play as a gossip columnist hoping to break into the world of journalism, and be taken more seriously. After hearing about the death of Harris Bullard, you suspect there may have been foul play involved, so you venture out into the middle of nowhere in search of evidence at the crime scene.

Dead Secret makes you want to explore and learn more about the characters in order to solve the mystery surrounding the murder. Some of the clues may give a little too much information about the characters early on, and I found that I kept having very strong suspicions about the characters long before the game actually confirmed them. I still enjoyed the story though, and how it all played out.

There are some jump scares, and times where you need to run from a masked figure. The added tension this creates helps to add some panic and excitement to the game. There aren’t many gameplay mechanics to discuss. You can look around freely, but all of the interaction and movement is done by pointing and clicking. The movement is a bit on the slower side, and there are times where you will need to backtrack through different parts of the house and you look around for clues, and items to solve various puzzles in order to progress.

The puzzles aren’t much of a challenge, which allows you to focus more on the story, and solving the mystery rather than how to solve any individual puzzle. The relevant clues are often easy to find, and the game often suggests what you should do with newly found items, or what items you still need. If you happen to need further hints, there is also a special mask you can equip that makes points of interest more noticeable.

Pros:

the story is very interesting and intriguing, and it’s revealed as you explore and read through all the clues and documents found around the house

the game makes you want to explore, and the notes, and information you find are satisfying

the puzzles are straightforward, and they are implemented nicely

the ambience, music, and sound effects are decent enough

some nicely placed jump scares, and there are plenty of times where the game does really nice job creating a tense atmosphere that may have you feeling apprehensive about progressing forward

full controller support

Cons:

some of the clues give too much information early on, and you may figure things out long before the game confirms it for you

(nitpick) dated graphics aren’t very appealing (but they don’t detract too much from the story experience as a whole)

(nitpick) the voice acting needs improvement, and it’s completely devoid of emotion to the point where it almost sounds like a text to speech program

(nitpick) none of the controls are customizable, but most people will be fine with the defaults (WASD, M1, M2), and there aren’t any in-game options aside from invert Y-axis and mouse sensitivity

The game took me just a little over two hours to complete all five of the endings. I explored quite a bit, and there were only a few notes that missed along the way. There isn’t any replay value, but reading all of the clues is a very good idea to get the most out of the game.

Conclusion:

All in all, Dead Secret offers an interesting and immersive story with a nice touch of jump scares to keep you feeling uneasy. I expect the game would be even more immersive in VR, but since I played on desktop, and since the game is quite short, I’m glad that I waited for sale price.